MeryttYour website will need 216 prices on it.
The CMA closed its vet investigation in March 2026. Here is what the reforms ask a practice to publish, and why keeping it true is the real job.
What changed.
The Competition and Markets Authority spent more than two years looking at vet services for household pets. It published its final report on 24 March 2026. It found three problems. Pet owners do not get enough information. There are barriers in the market. And the rules behind it are out of date.
None of that is a finding about your practice. It is a finding about the market. But the fix lands on every practice in it, and that includes yours.
- 24 Mar 2026The final report. The CMA publishes its findings and remedies. Nothing is binding yet.
- 14 Sep 2026When we wrote this. The Order had not yet been made.
- 23 Sep 2026The Order. The CMA had to make it by this date. That is what makes it law.
- Then 3 to 12 monthsIn force. Most remedies arrive over the following months. Smaller practices get longer than the large groups.
So there is time. There is just a lot of work in it, and most of it has to be done again next month.
Start with the price list. The CMA names eleven things it has to carry.
- Consultations
- Out-of-hours consultations
- Vaccinations
- Written prescription fees
- Neutering
- Microchipping
- Routine dentistry
- Scans and diagnostic tests
- Surgical procedures
- Parasiticides
- Euthanasia and cremation
Eleven things. Except it is not really eleven. Vet Times counted it out: thirty-six line items, each priced across six weight bands. Cat, under 10kg, 10 to 25kg, 25 to 40kg, 40 to 60kg, and over 60kg. That is 216 prices, every one complete and every one current.
And the list is only the middle of it. The rest attaches itself to the visit.
Before you start
- A written estimate for anything likely to cost 500 pounds or more, including VAT.
- Who owns you, on the signs, in the building and online.
- The published list, matching what you are about to charge.
In the room
- Tell them a written prescription is available.
- Tell them the medicine may be cheaper from an online pharmacy.
- Keep the written prescription fee within the CMA’s cap.
After they leave
- An itemised bill, every treatment, every time.
- The prescription in their hand, or emailed within 48 hours.
- A complaints route in writing, with a way to mediation.
A price list is only compliant while it is true.
This is the part that catches practices out. Publishing the list once is a morning’s work. Keeping it true never ends.
Change what you charge for a dental and the website is wrong that afternoon. Add a new parasiticide and there is a row missing. Put a locum on nights and the out-of-hours details are out of date.
Nothing announces any of this. The list does not turn red. It just quietly stops matching what you charge, and it stays that way until somebody notices.
You will not find out from the website. You will find out from a complaint.
So it is not a project with an end. It is a standing job. It is exactly the kind of standing job that gets skipped in a busy week, because skipping it costs nothing on the day you skip it.
Take this: the grid, built and ready.
Free, with no email and no form. Every one of the eleven categories the CMA names, laid out across the six weight bands, one row per price.
If you do nothing else this month, open it and find out how far your published prices have drifted from what your practice system charges. That gap is usually the whole story.
It is a plain spreadsheet that works in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets. Fill in what you charge and what your website says, and the status column flags every row where they stop matching. We do not know what you put in it, and we would not want to.
| Line item | Weight band | What you charge | What your website says | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard consultation | Cat | |||
| Standard consultation | Under 10kg | |||
| Standard consultation | 10 to 25kg | |||
| Standard consultation | 25 to 40kg | |||
| … and 212 more rows | ||||
What we would build.
Strip the legal language out and this is four ordinary office jobs, repeating forever. Here is what Pulse would do for each one. In every case it does the work and the practice decides what may go out on its own, and what waits for a vet.
The itemised bill, on the day
Reads what was actually done, builds the bill line by line, and drafts the chase when it is not paid. You only see the ones that need a real conversation.
The estimate, before the work
Spots the job heading past the threshold, drafts the written estimate from your own prices, and asks for a yes before it goes.
Everything with a date on it
The training log. The ownership notice. Any capped fee that changes. The things that go stale because nobody owns the date.
The 216, checked against reality
Compares what is published with what your practice system charges, and tells you the day the two stop matching. Not the month somebody complains.
What this is not. We are not vets, and none of this touches a clinical call. It does not change what you charge, either. It only changes how much of the week goes into proving what you charge, and how long a mistake gets to sit on your website.
Do the sum by hand.
Three lines. Your numbers, not ours. Two of the inputs are published and cannot move: the six weight bands, and the 36 line items Vet Times counted. Everything else is yours to set.
Keeping the list true
Price changes a year, times six bands, times the minutes it takes to push one change everywhere.
changes × 6 × minutes ÷ 60
Writing estimates
Estimates a week over the threshold, times 52, times the minutes it takes to write one.
estimates × 52 × minutes ÷ 60
The yearly check
Every published price, once a year, times the minutes it takes to check one.
216 × minutes ÷ 60
Then, the cost
Add the three. Times by what an hour of that person’s time really costs you.
hours × loaded rate
We have not measured a vet practice, so we will not tell you what the answer should be. Put a band of 40% either side of it. If the decision holds at the low end, it is worth acting on. Why we work this way.
Where this comes from.
Every figure is somebody else’s: published, dated and linked. We do not write numbers we cannot point at.
- CMA concludes market investigation with major reforms to veterinary sectorGOV.UK, Competition and Markets Authority. The remedies, the written estimate threshold, the prescription fee cap, the 23 September 2026 Order date and the three to twelve month rollout.
- CMA transparency rules: what do you need to know?Vet Times. The thirty-six line items across six weight bands, and the count of 216.
- CMA final decision: what independent vet practices need to knowAgilio Software. The 48-hour prescription window, the complaints process, and the lighter treatment of smaller practices.
Last checked 14 September 2026. The Order had not been made when we wrote this, so the detail can still move. If you are relying on this for a decision, read the CMA’s page rather than this one.
Questions
What does the CMA require UK vet practices to publish?
A standard price list covering consultations, out-of-hours consultations, vaccinations, written prescription fees, neutering, microchipping, routine dentistry, scans and diagnostic tests, surgical procedures, parasiticides, and euthanasia and cremation. Vet Times counts that as 36 line items across six patient weight bands, which is 216 prices.
When do the CMA vet reforms come into force?
The CMA published its final report on 24 March 2026 and had to make the Order by 23 September 2026. Most remedies then come in over the following three to twelve months, and smaller practices get longer than the large groups. Check the CMA’s own page for the latest.
What is the written estimate threshold for UK vets?
A written estimate is required for any treatment likely to cost 500 pounds or more, including VAT, with an itemised bill after every treatment.